Tissue reactivity and suture handling characteristics of “jimat” against silk and chromic gut in cat thigh muscle: A comparative study

AIM This study was conducted to evaluate and compare the tissue reactivity and suture handling characteristics of chromic gut, silk, and 'jimat' suture materials in cat thigh muscle. MATERIALS AND METHODS This experimental study was conducted from November, 2013 to April, 2014 in Kombolcha Animal Diseases Survey, Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, Kombolcha, Ethiopia. A total of 36 local breed male cats were randomly assigned into chromic gut, silk, and "jimat" groups of 12 cats each as A, B, and C, respectively. The hind leg muscle biceps femoris was incised and sutured with suture materials according to their groups. The muscle samples with its suture were collected at six different days interval i.e. 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 and processed histopathologically to assess the degree of leukocytic infiltration and fibrous and granulation tissue formation (GTF). In addition, all suture materials were evaluated intraoperatively about their handling characteristics, by rating the precision of knot tying, square knot positioning, and resistance to knot slippage. The statistical analysis was done with two-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and Chi-square tests. RESULTS The histopathology showed that "jimat" thread (2.4±1.2) had produced least leukocytic infiltration than chromic gut (4.5±1.9) and silk (4.3±1.5) sutures during the study period. Higher GTF was seen at day 3 (6 [100%]), 7 (6 [100%]) and day 14 (4 [66.7%]) in all sutures, whereas "jimat" showed significantly (p<0.05) higher fibrous tissue formation (10 [83.3%]) than others. Moreover, "jimat" suture had equal suture handling characteristics (p>0.05) with both chromic gut and silk. CONCLUSION The result indicated that a single strand "jimat" thread appears to be the most satisfactory suture material as regards to both tissue reaction and suture handling characteristics for skeletal muscle approximation in cats and provided that studies on its carcinogenic effects should be done.